JP\/20\/JALA<\/p>\n
Fishermen's lives expressed in movement<\/p>\n
Blontank Poer
\nThe Jakarta Post\/Surakarta<\/p>\n
Carrying storm lanterns, two men enter the arena from different
\nsides. They walk slowly and stealthily in darkness.<\/p>\n
When their figures disappear, a man hurries down the stairs of
\na pole standing erect behind the main stage. A commotion of
\nvoices breaks the night's silence moments after the male figure
\nclimbs up the stairs again.<\/p>\n
From atop the pole, an instruction was given in Javanese
\nasking the people below to prepare the fuel, the fishing net and
\nother sailing equipment.<\/p>\n
Two large drums appeared and the sail was stretched out. The
\nboat sped off, disappearing into the nocturnal darkness that
\nenveloped a vast ocean with the only light coming from twinkling
\nstars.<\/p>\n
This was an episode from Heri Suwanto's dance drama titled
\nBala Jala (Friend of the Net), which was performed in the Arena
\nTheater of the Surakarta Cultural Park last Thursday.<\/p>\n
It was a sad story of the little people, inspired by the lives
\nof fishermen along the Pekalongan coast, where Heri, the
\nchoreographer, was born.<\/p>\n
As a member of the coastal community, Heri vividly shows in
\nhis creation that he strongly sides with the fishing folk. He
\npresented fishermen's daily lives as they are. His narrative
\nopenness makes it hard for the audience not to get an impression
\nof his naivety in this 40-minute dance drama performance.<\/p>\n
Although his choreographic creation was based on his
\nobservation of the lives of fishermen in the coastal area of
\nPekalongan, Heri includes a wider geographical scope in this
\ncreation with his inclusion in the repertoire of songs and poems
\nfrom the island of Selayar to emphasize his message. In terms of
\nvoice character these songs and poems resemble the folk songs of
\nthe island of Madura.<\/p>\n
It is generally known that fishermen from Madura and Selayar
\nare good sailors.<\/p>\n
These fishermen spend months at sea, no matter how rough it
\nis, until their instinct tells them to sail to a certain spot
\nwhere a school of fish await the arrival of their net. These
\nfishermen never care where exactly they are when they net fish.
\nThey only know that there is life out there in the sea, and it is
\nthere that they earn a living and get their vitality.<\/p>\n
While these fishermen are out at sea, their families
\nfaithfully wait at home. A small party will be held when their
\nboats return. The sound of music, a combination of Indian and
\nMalay tunes, will be heard almost everywhere in the villages, a
\nsign of celebration that the fishermen have returned safely to
\ntheir families.<\/p>\n
Bala Jala seems to be an episode that continues Heri's
\nnarrative of the lives of fishermen. Seven years ago, he was also
\ninspired by the theme of traditional sailors in his choreographic
\nwork called Gubug Penceng (Skewed Hut). With this work he earned
\nhis degree in dance from the Indonesian Dance School (STSI) in
\nSurakarta.<\/p>\n
Like other marginalized people in our society, fishermen also
\nsuffer because of the high price of fuel. Meanwhile, industrial
\nwaste from the cities or coastal areas has made the cost of
\nfishing higher as fishermen must go further and further out to
\nsea where there is less pollution. Fish are sensitive to
\npollutants and will swim farther away to cleaner parts of the
\nocean.<\/p>\n
As a result, the fishermen's haul has become disproportionate
\nto the costs they have to incur, especially because many
\nfishermen have to rent fishing boats. Some fishermen's families
\nmay own their own boats but they have to rent an engine. Without
\nsuch an engine they cannot sail very far out to sea and expect to
\nget a big haul of fish. Today, if fishermen just rely on the wind
\nand their sails, they will return home empty-handed.<\/p>\n
It is true that there is a very interesting element in the
\nlives of fishermen in the creation of a choreographic work.
\nHowever, there will be something amiss in this work if the
\nchoreographer fails to carefully interpret the reality of a
\nfisherman's life in the symbolic language manifested in the
\nartistic arrangement and property of the stage.<\/p>\n
The presence of a large drum and a pole plus sail on the stage
\nin this Bala Jala performance filled Heri's work with verbal
\nsymbols accentuating the realistic nature of the play. Meanwhile,
\nsome scenes in this performance showed, instead, a tendency to
\nsurrealist movement and color.<\/p>\n
Another criticism is that in the scene depicting the deep
\nlonging of fishermen's families left back home, four female
\ndancers hurriedly carry used tins of baby milk. It is rather
\nstrange that the haul obtained from a few days fishing is
\nparalleled with children's need for milk.<\/p>\n
At the close of the performance, two oil-drilling bits fall
\nfrom the sky, marking the beginning of a huge oil exploration
\nproject financed by a big capitalist. When this happens, the
\nfishermen are puzzled and become powerless. They are unable to
\nresist.<\/p>\n
It was a ridiculous scene because oil drilling is usually
\nconducted far offshore and does not always directly affect such
\nfishermen.<\/p>\n
If only Heri, who has participated in the works of famous
\nchoreographers like Sardono W. Kusumo and Retno Maruti, had shown
\nmore patience and given more thought to his exploration of the
\ntheme Bala Jala, it could have been much better than Gubug
\nPenceng, his previous work that examines the interaction between
\nman and the ocean.<\/p>\n
Another weakness in this work was Heri's tendency to show off
\ntechniques of movement. Unfortunately, the types of movement that
\nhe presented in Bala Jala were relatively limited.<\/p>\n
As a result, despite Heri's flexible narrative style, much
\ntime was wasted because of an apparent urge to show off dancing
\ntechniques.<\/p>\n
The variety of movement was very limited. The movement that he
\nput into his choreographic work was \"highly academic\" in the
\nsense that it involved back movement techniques with very little
\ndevelopment. The performance could have been much better if only
\nthe dancers had shown a similar level of ability and mastery.
\nSome of the dancers did not even seem to understand the concept
\nof choreography, with their expression being artificial and dull.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/jp20jala-1447899208",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}